We hate Sprinkles!

The first thing you should probably know about the Our Lady of Cupcakes duo is that we’re opinionated broads. Scratch that – the real first thing you should know is that we love cupcakes! And most other treats, too – cookies, rice crispy treats, muffins, pies, scones, breads, croissants, pastries, chocolates… the list could go on and on. We’re passionate about food, especially the carb-loaded and delicious. Our passion is a little hard to contain – both our joy and our disappointment.

Everyone has raved about their cupcakes, so when we learned there was an outlet in Scottsdale, we had to try it out. Our first impression was one of confusion… everyone said their cupcakes were cute, so why did they kind of look like boobs ala Pablo Picasso?

And where were the multi-colored sprinkles?! They have such a cute name and a pretty attractive storefront – we felt the cupcakes could have looked so much more fun. We bought four – coconut, peanut butter, banana, and chocolate marshmallow. We were so excited!

Finally, getting to taste these AMAZING cupcakes we’d heard about. Even Oprah loved them! How could they be bad? She’s never wrong (well, except maybe about that Frey guy).

Alas, we dug in to disappointment. The cake itself was dry, dense, and had little flavor. This seems to be a theme out here (we’ll post on that later) - maybe it’s because of our hot, dry desert air. However, our visit was in May of ’09, so they had been open for a year – plenty of time to get used to our arid climate and how it affects baked goods. (Also enough time to realize that the last thing people want to do in AZ in the summer is sit outside to eat a cupcake – they had no place to sit! We had to find a shady spot to avoid eating in the car.) The frosting was piled high on top, thick and almost too sweet, which overwhelmed the cake.

In other words, they were meh. Considering we paid $3.50 each, the meh turned into bleh. We could make better cupcakes than that! And thus, a business idea was born. Why couldn’t we open our own bakery? It’d be a cool little place with local art on the walls, our favorite music playing, and a neighborhood vibe. We’d serve niche drinks (think sweet tea) and promote at First Friday art walk events. There’d be no competition if we stayed in central Phoenix – there are very few bakeries in all of AZ and only one in the downtown area where we’d set up shop. Disillusioned corporate drones are opening up successful businesses in other states, and we want to follow in their footsteps!

That’s what this blog is all about – our journey to starting a bakery of our own, and all the pitstops along the way. We hope to share the recipes we’re creating, reviews, merchandise, and anything else we think is interesting enough to post, as well as connect with other carbohydrate fans. Maybe we could get a cupcake camp started, or arrange a recipe exchange? Ultimately, we want you to taste our creations and say, “Wow, those were better than Sprinkles.”

Who knows how it will all work out? We might not make it, but whether we succeed or fail, it’s worth it… because we’ll get to eat A LOT of cupcakes!

Comments (9)

More power to you! I’m glad someone has the cojones to call out those big name bakeries that might have lost sight of what is important – amazing cake with a nice balance of flavourful frosting. A lot of big name cupcakeries around here have very dry, cardboard-like cake piled high with too-sweet icing. Ick.

KT Cupcake, this is pretty much my life’s story in a nutshell–well, except the part about hating Sprinkles, but as you know i’ve never tried them, soooooooo…..

anyway, I’m excited to see how your venture takes off!! Meanwhile, I’m going to start doing small orders out of my apartment. I even have a wedding cupcake order for next spring! Look out mega-cupcake chains, here we come!

They’re in the Scottsdale airpark over by Home Depot (if you’re familiar with this part of town) and when I google map search “cupcakes” a whole bunch of places pop up. But I can’t vouch for any of these.

I definitely want to try Magnolia since the guys from SNL rapped about them in Lazy Sunday. “Two, no six, no twelve, BAKERS DOZEN. I told you that I’m crazy for these cupcakes, cousin.” I’ve heard mixed reviews from other cupcake bloggers about the LA location.

I’m not familiar with the airpark area and I don’t get out there much, but I might make a special trip. Cake Contessa is special order/delivery only. It doesn’t look like Butter & Me has a storefront, either – the address on Yelp is a PO box. It also doesn’t list an address on their website, only ordering information, just like Scottsdale Bakery’s site. WTF is up these places not listing a location if they have one? I would think that would be important info. Unfortunately, a Google search doesn’t filter delivery only businesses out, even when checking the maps. I’ve done many searches and have a list of the ones with obvious locations to visit.

ruthgroffFebruary 9th, 2011 at 7:46 am

Would love to visit and buy some cupcakes. Pleads give me address and when you are open
Thank you, Ruth Groff

I am with you Kate! I can’t stand sprinkled! They are vile! As soon as a chain sells out to the big leagues, it seems the recipes go out the door. That horrible fondant, tasteless “sprinkle” is horrible, the cuppys were dry yes, the frosting was nill, and the flavors were like cardboard! Wtf! How could this woman Candace be a judge for a cupcake show when hers are the worst!???? Take en on Kate!